Boris Tadi&cacute;

Tadi&cacute;, Boris, 1958–, Serbian political leader, president of Serbia (2004–), b. Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (now in Bosnia and Herzegovina). A student activist while attending Belgrade Univ., Tadi&cacute; joined the Democratic party (DS) in 1990. A decade later, when the DS joined with other groups to form the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) and force President Slobodan Miloševi&cacute; from power. Tadi&cacute; was elected to the National Assembly and became minister of telecommunications. He served as defense minister from 2003 to 2004, when he became DS party leader. Later that year, he was elected president of Serbia; he was reelected in 2008. A pro-Western reformer in favor of Serbia's joining the European Union, Tadi&cacute; opposed independence for Kosovo while rejecting Prime Minister Koštunica's hard-line approach with respect to those nations supporting Kosovo's independence. In 2012 he lost his bid for a third term to Tomislav Nikoli&cacute;, and he subsequently stepped down as party leader.